Be Our Guest

BE OUR GUEST

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Archives: April 2025

Be Our Guest

Creating the perfect guest bedroom Madcap Cottage style

By Jason Oliver Nixon and John Loecke   •   Photograph by Bert VanderVeen

There’s truly an art to hosting guests. To making a visitor feel supremely welcome without having to kowtow to their every whim and whimsy.

John and I love entertaining in all its forms, and we really raise our game when it comes to hosting houseguests at our High Point home, the House of Bedlam. Think The Ritz Paris by way of North Carolina, but cozier, softer, and a lot more fun. Dining room disco, anyone? We just had an international guest arrive from London, and we wanted her stay to be as comfortable and memorable as we could make it. Quite simply, we want every one of our houseguests to feel like they’re at home and leave them wanting for nothing. A good mattress and a clean room are a given, but we are all about the small touches, the personal ones that focus on our guests’ comfort.

That said, we are very clear about our “deliverables.” This isn’t a restaurant. We aren’t the maids. Yes, please strip the bed when you depart. We will have coffee and English muffins ready every morning; we don’t make eggs. And a gift or dinner out on the town is always welcome.

Here are a few tried-and-true recipes for the ultimate guest bedroom from your friends at Madcap Cottage . . .

— We love to put flowers next to the bed. Flowers truly make the room feel fresh, alive and cared for. You know your guests well, so think about their favorite blooms and adorn the nightstand with that particular blossom. At this time of year, what is more cheerful than a simple vase abundant with daffodils? A great stack of books is always welcome, too.

— Place either a bottle of water next to the bed or fill a glass decanter with water and accompany it with a lovely crystal glass.

— Email a week before to ask your guests’ must-haves or food preferences. Oat milk, almond milk, gluten-free bread? The Madcaps have you covered. Our recent guest wasn’t fussy but she is a chocoholic. We had some of our Hammond’s chocolate bars on standby for her, so she could try some Southern sweet treats.

— Add lovely toiletries pillaged from a hotel to your guest bathroom. Save the Hermès for really good friends or treat them to some of your favorite toiletry brands. We love to leave our guests with some of our French lavender bath bombs from the Old Whaling Company to help them relax and unwind during their stay.

— Have a plug-in outlet with USB port easily visible and plugged in near the bed. When they’ve retired for the evening after a long journey, the last thing a guest needs is to be crawling around on the floor trying to find an accessible plug.

— Good towels, well fluffed. The bigger and bouncier, the better.

— Extra toilet paper in a basket atop the toilet. Be kind and save your guests the indignity of having to request more TP.

— A soft rug next to the bed. We have small accent rugs next to every bed in our house. Besides the fact that they make the room cozier and look more layered, they make getting out of bed that much easier when you’ve got a soft landing to look forward to.

So there you have it. That’s how we host a house guest, the Madcap way.

Enjoy!

Poem April 2025

POEM APRIL 2025

Home
Archives: April 2025

Greedy

The catbird is pecking away

at two ripe tomatoes.

I wave my hands and shout,

My tomatoes! as though 

I’d produced them

from my breasts or belly.

 

The catbird aerializes

on the tomato cage,

jabbing and jabbing the red fruit.

I have more on the counter

that I won’t eat before they rot,

or that I’ll give away.

 

It’s unseemly, this stinginess,

a memory of not-enough,

the necessity of preserving

a crop from rabbits and deer,

the otherwise marvelous

round-backed bugs, grasshoppers

flaring red underwings,

 

or birds like this one,

gray as a civil servant,

an actuary of ripeness,

that tilts its head to eye the fruit

and flaunts its rusty bottom

in salute.

— Valerie Nieman

Birdwatch

BIRDWATCH

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Archives: April 2025

Long Trek North

Louisiana waterthrush leads the way

By Susan Campbell

In early spring, birdwatchers such as myself are eager to spot the first returning migrants of the season. These are northbound birds that have spent the cooler months far to our south, in Central or South America. There, the living is easy, with plentiful food and a mild climate. But as the days begin to lengthen, these birds begin their return flight to the breeding grounds. Many may fly both day and night as the urgency of their mission increases. Hormone levels drive them to make their way swiftly to their natal area. Some return to the exact patch of woods, marsh or lake where they themselves hatched.

One of the earliest to return here in central North Carolina is the Louisiana waterthrush. A small, drab warbler, it is far more likely to be heard than seen at first. Its plumage is streaky brown and white. Birds can be recognized by their prominent broad white eyebrows and pink legs. As its name implies, the species prefers wet habitat, being at home along streams and rivers where it not only feeds in the trees, but along banks and around rocks at the water’s edge.

In the spring, Louisiana waterthrushes will call or sing as they move from place to place. As with so many species, the male’s vocalizing serves not only to attract a mate, but to establish territory. They have a loud, melodic song that carries well over the sound of moving water. The species’ call note, too, is a high volume “chip” that is easy to pick up in thick vegetation or above a gurgling stream.

Louisiana waterthrushes are insectivorous and so will consume any fly, midge or beetle that it sees. Also, waterthrushes will pick hatching aquatic insects such as mayflies or stoneflies out of the water. Individuals may wade in the shallows as they forage, making short jabs at potential prey items.

After pairs find one another and begin to raise the next generation of waterthrushes, they become virtually silent. This no doubt enables them to protect their nesting site and their young from would-be predators. Nests are built on or near the ground, making them relatively vulnerable to disturbance. Secretive behavior also reduces the chances that they will be parasitized by brown-headed cowbirds, which are known to seek out open cup nests such as those made by waterthrushes to deposit a single egg. The resulting nestling will be unwittingly cared for by waterthrush parents to the detriment of their own young.

Being one of the earliest warblers to return in the early spring, they are also likely to disperse in early summer after their young leave the nest. They may return to their Central American wintering grounds by the end of July. If you are fortunate enough to encounter a Louisiana waterthrush in the weeks to come, enjoy it because it is not likely to be around for very long.